The Fall and Rise
by SweeneyGirl310593
Summary: Fourteen years after RotJ, a young Jedi apprentice is sent to Tatooine. While camping overnight on the outskirts of Mos Espa, she encounters the ghost of Anakin Skywalker.
1. Prolouge: RotJ

**Disclaimer: George Lucas and his companies and their shareholders own Star Wars. Any unrecognisable characters and scenarios are mine.**

**The Fall and Rise**

Prologue 

"Father, please" begged the young man, writhing on the floor of the Death Star's throne room. "Help me." Darth Vader stared at the boy, his son. With each wave of organic electricity that pored from the Emperor's twisted hands and heart into the young man, the boy became weaker as his life force was drawn into the Emperor. Yet, Luke refused to give up on his father.

'That's so much like her' Vader thought, looking away. She, too had never given up on him, and he had allowed it to kill her. His turn to the Dark Side of the Force had brought about the one thing it was intended to prevent, her death. He had failed her. 'I cannot fail our son too' Vader decided as he turned to face Luke's plight once more. 'And I will not' he concluded. He threw himself at his once and former Master, the Emperor, and caught him by the waist. "Stop! No! What are you doing?" The older man demanded. Vader did not reply. His determination lent him strength and even though the lethal lightning was now trained on him, Vader was able to throw him over the reactor core safety railing. He barely heard the dying scream.

Suddenly, a hand broke through the fog and pulled him back from the abyss. Luke, his son had saved him and the two leant against the rail, gasping from exhaustion.

[15 minutes later]

Vader watched the chaos unfold as Luke dragged him through the dying Death Star. He half smiled ruefully. They were helpless without their Emperor. Men who had once cowered in fear and obedience before Vader now had no room in their panicked brains to spare a second glance. 'Where are they for their precious _Lord_ Vader now?' he asked himself bitterly. It was another reminder of how blind he had been.

Luke reached a shuttle and laid Vader down panting with the effort. "Luke, help me take this mask off"

"But you'll die!" Luke protested.

"Nothing can stop that now, just once, let me look on you with my _own_ eyes."

Luke removed his father's mask. Vader felt free and truly alive for the first time in twenty-one years, even as he felt himself dying. He saw Luke for the first time. Even damaged, blurred vision was better than the angry red shading enhancer he had been seeing the world in. In Luke, he saw all the people he had loved, his mother, his wife, his mentor; his friends come back to him.

"Go, my son, leave me."

"No, I'll not leave you here; I've got to save you." Luke told him, a desperate tone in his falsely cheery voice.

Vader felt everything become a blur." You already have, Luke. You were right about me. Tell you're sister, you were right." With that, complete once more, Darth Vader, Anakin Skywalker, slipped away.

**Thanks for reading. I'll upload more chapters soon. Please review to let me know what you think.**


	2. Chapter 1 Leaving

**Disclaimer: George Lucas and his companies and their shareholders own Star Wars. Any unrecognisable characters and scenarios are mine.**

**The Fall and Rise**

Chapter I

[Fourteen years later]

Ten year old Norrin Reweska was reading a novel on the steps of the Old Jedi Temple on Corisant. Just over nine years ago, it had been returned to its former glory by the New Republic's finest architects and was once again a place of training and knowledge. She shook her head, this was impossible, she simply could not concentrate on the holographic text in front of her, she had read the same line at least twice. She decided to give up and think about her mission instead. Her Jade green eyes, the same colour as her skin, shone when she thought of her mission.

Technically, New Republic law did not allow Jedi younger than fourteen to be sent on missions and errands and only over sixteens were allowed to participate in anything military, since that was the entry age for army cadets. However, Luke Skywalker felt that this errand could not wait and, as he had to go to the alpine world of Barrash to help Senator Leia Organa negotiate a trade deal, his young apprentice was his only option. The young Twi'lek felt proud to be going, it showed that Luke trusted and believed in her. It was also the first time she had left Corisant since Luke rescued her from a burning house when she was only three and she barely remembered her life before that. Norrin was anxious to explore the worlds she had learnt about in books and from Luke and Han's stories.

"Hello, Norrin" Luke said softly and laughed when she let out a startled scream. "What were you so deep in thought about, you looked light years away?"

"What do you think, Luke?" she asked. He had never been comfortable with the title of 'Master' so he had asked all his apprentices to call him by his first name. "I'm thinking about my adventure!"

"'A Jedi seeks not adventure'" quoted Luke "It usually finds us on its own."

The two laughed at the small joke. Suddenly Luke was all business. "Right Norrin, since your mission doesn't legally exist, you'll have to fly there on your own. Well, not quite. You'll be taking Artoo."

"Don't worry, Luke, we'll take good care of each other."

Luke smiled. "Very well, your ship's all ready to go at Landing Bay 4. Artoo'll meet you there."

"Cool" the younger Jedi replied, running down the corridor to grab her pack.

"Oh, and Norrin" Luke called.

"Yeah?" she shot back"

"May the Force be with you" smiled Luke.

"You too." She called.

'I'm gonna need it more than her' thought Luke as Norrin turned the corner. 'The Barashii can be very territorial.' With that, he turned on his heel and left the Old Temple for his own mission.


	3. Chapter 2 Arriving

**Disclaimer: George Lucas and his companies and their shareholders own Star Wars. Any unrecognisable characters and scenarios are mine.**

**The Fall and Rise**

Chapter II

"You ready, Artoo?" asked Norrin, strapping into her seat and activating the controls.

Artoo beeped questioningly and a translation typed itself across the holoscreen on the control board of the one-person ship. "We're going to Tatooine. Luke reckons there's one of the Old Order Jedi or at least a force sensitive there. He's asked me, I mean us, to make contact with him or her and bring them back to join the New Order."

Another question from Artoo. "Well, I can't see why they wouldn't" she said as they left the planet's atmosphere, put out. "We'll have to think about that when the time comes, I guess. Okay, Prepare for lightspeed" she instructed the droid. He beeped an affirmative and Norrin felt her stomach lurch with anticipation and space began to blur into a continuous blue/white tunnel.

[Half an hour and sixty-something parsecs later]

Norrin felt hyperspace slide away and found herself staring at a large dark sandy coloured planet, the desert occasionally punctuated with cities, mountains and gorges, proof that groundwater had once existed on Tatooine. It was certainly a far cry from the cool, densely populated Corisant.

"Okay, Artoo, we made it. Bring us down". A third question from the droid. "I dunno where! Pick a settlement. There that one looks good." She checked her readouts. "Mos Espa, mostly part traders, merchants and… podracing! Now we've got to go there!". Podracing was illegal in the New Republic but Norrin watched it on the offworld channels. It looked dangerous, but exciting and she had always wanted to see it for real. As she descended through the atmosphere she decided that the mission could wait one more day.


	4. Chapter 3 Racing

**Disclaimer: George Lucas and his companies and their shareholders own Star Wars. Any unrecognisable characters and scenarios are mine.**

**The Fall and Rise**

Chapter III

Norrin had just purchased a ticket to see the latest podrace. She settled down in her seat next to a particularly rowdy crowd of gamblers and fixed her eyes on the dusty track in front of her. Six racers were competing today and she took in all the bright flags baring the racer's insignia. She considered placing a few credits bet with her seat-neighbours but decided against it. Luke had spent the first eighteen years of his life here and had warned her against those sort of people, especially on Tatooine. She also hid her lightsaber. Some Tatooians, she was told, were not very fond of Jedi.

"Welcome to the Quarterly Bonta Eve Pod Sprint!" called the announcer enthusiastically. "Two laps, six competitors, one winner and five thousand, yes, five thousand Huttnese Credits to be won ladies, gentlemen and droidforms! The rules are very simple, win at any cost. Okay, let's cut to the chase, if you'll pardon the pun. Okay; positions, racers, three, two, one and GO!"

The pods went. With a flare of engines and a roar of the crowd, they were off, out of Norrin's sight within seconds. She glanced up at the veiwscreen displaying each of the pods positions in turn. Suddenly, the rattle of modified engines was audible and four pods came into view. Norrin gulped, "what happened to the other two?" she thought out loud.

"Tuskins probably got 'um. Tough world here, Kid." replied one of the men sitting next to her. She grimaced, now she appreciated how dangerous this sport was.

The next time the pods came about, there were only three left. They careened to a halt as the crowd erupted in applause for the winner, a Gako Moka from Mos Eisly, all the missing losers forgotten. 'Tough world' thought Norrin. She left the track at Artoo's suggestion when the gamblers argument over their money started to become violent.

The rest of the day was spent in a somewhat more tame way. Norrin shopped in the market, buying as meal and a few little souvenirs. By eight, she was thinking about where she could sleep. She didn't intend to sleep in the ship. After trailing round town for almost three hours looking for a cheap enough inn she was beginning to think that was her only option. But something drew her towards the outskirts. When she reached it, there was nothing there but small, half derelict apartments, piled on top of one another. Whoever had lived here would have been very poor. Norrin decided to make camp here for the night, considering her legs were nearly shaking from tiredness.

"Well, this is it, Artoo." She told the droid. He let out a sceptical whrr. "Don't turn your nose up at it; this is all we can afford. Besides, where's your sense of adventure, Artoo?". Another whrr, this one sounding like an eye-roll. Norrin looked around the apartment. Though clearly unlived in for decades, the plumbing still worked and so did the electricity. She found the living room/kitchenette. It had one wall missing and she could see the stars. She chose this room to lay down her bedding and pack. She wriggled into her sleeping bag. "Goodnight, Artoo." She smiled. The droid beeped and then shut down for the night. Norrin fell asleep looking at the stars and thinking of tomorrow.


	5. Chapter 4 Meeting

**Disclaimer: George Lucas and his companies and their shareholders own Star Wars. Any unrecognisable characters and scenarios are mine.**

**The Fall and Rise**

Chapter IV

Norrin sat bolt upright. A strange presence had interrupted her peaceful dreams. Luke's theory seemed to be correct. There was a Force sensitive here, and a very powerful one judging by the potency of the Force around it. And instead of having to seek it out, it had found her. The fact wasn't very reassuring. Supposing it did not believe her story about the Jedi order's return, or maybe Artoo was right and the force sensitive did not want to join or rejoin the Jedi, perhaps it was hostile. A more insubstantial fear was bothering Norrin, though. The presence simply didn't _feel_ right, as though it did not belong to this world. She gathered her wits together. 'You're a Jedi, deal with it!' She told herself and demanded "Who's there? Who are you? What do you want?" She was afraid her tone had come out more scared than authoritarian.

"Don't worry, I mean you no harm." A calm, male voice told her and a human rounded the broken wall of the living room so she could see him.

Norrin gasped, the man seemed to be composed entirely of a bluish light. He was tall with wavy dark blond hair, blue eyes and a friendly, open expression on his face. It was impossible to guess his age 'But then again, I'm not good at guessing ages anyway' she mentally conceded. There was something familiar about his demeanour, too. She remembered something Luke had said about dead Jedi having some connection to this world through apparitions like this. Luke's own Masters, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda had communicated with him in this way. Seeing the man before her, there was nothing else he could be.

"Are you a ghost?" She asked him, painfully aware of how childish she sounded.

"I guess you could call it that." He said simply. Norrin was slightly disappointed. She had been hoping to bring a live Jedi back to Luke. There was definitely something interesting about the man though.

"Oh, well, my name's Norrin. What's yours?" She asked, trying to start conversation.

The man sighed "I don't know where to start". Norrin was intrigued; after all, it was a simple enough question. He thought for a moment and his face lit up as a solution came to him. "Would you like to hear a story Norrin?"

"Sure" she replied.

"It's not a nice story, in places. Especially for a Jedi" he warned nodding at her lightsaber.

"I'm not six, I can deal with it!" she told him.

"Very well, Norrin. Long ago, on Tatooine, there was a young slave boy called Anakin Skywalker, about your age who dreamed of the stars. One day a Jedi, his apprentice and a queen's entourage came and granted him his wish of freedom. But he had to leave his mother behind, the hardest thing he did in his young life. The young Queen, in disguise, befriended him but they had to go their separate ways. Ten years later, the boy had become a Jedi apprentice training under the apprentice of the man who had granted his freedom. The Queen had become a senator and the boy fell in love with her. Now in those days Jedi were forbidden to marry. Having been brought closer by his mother's death, they ignored this and married on the eve of the Clone Wars. I assume you know about those?" He asked.

Norrin nodded, anxious for him to continue.

"The boy became a man as he served in the Clone Wars beside his friend and master and he was delighted to find his wife pregnant when he returned home on leave. He began to have horrible dreams about her death and the manipulative Sith Chancellor promised that the power of the Sith could save her from his nightmares. He joined the Sith himself and turned his back on his friends and allies. His first order was to massacre Jedi in the Temple after they were declared public enemies."

"Order 66." murmured Norrin.

The man nodded. "His hate destroyed his wife and his own health. He became the legendary Sith, Darth Vader and hunted his mentor and his former order. He was killed more than twenty years later on the Empire's second Death Star after saving his son."

'Luke? He was Vader's _son'._ Norrin had known that Vader died to save him but this told her the reason why. After all, why would a man so evil save someone he barely knew. And the story told her another thing. The man had real emotion in his eyes. Nobody could tell a story like that with such sincerity, unless they had lived it themselves.

"You're Anakin, Luke's father, aren't you?"

"That's right Norrin." He confirmed.

"Oh, you're a bit different than I expected" She told him.

"You were expecting an evil, unreasonable monster." said Anakin. "Where it not for Luke, I would still be that person." The man was pensive for a moment, then he asked Norrin, "Your reaction to my story suggests you know Luke." He said, his tone inviting her to elaborate.

"Yeah, he's my mentor!" said Norrin, proudly "Well, he's kinda like my family, too. My parents died when I was three."

"Oh, I'm sorry." Anakin said.

"Its okay, I can't really remember them. I do think about them sometimes though, whether they're happy." She suddenly thought of something. "Anakin, have you met them, would you know?"

"No. You see, I never really made it that far. My purpose in life as the so-called 'Chosen One' was to bring balance to the force. Apparently, destroying the Empire through my son wasn't enough. So I'm stuck in this limbo, haunting my childhood home." He looked thoughtful again. "Norrin, do you trust me."

Common sense would have said no, but Norrin did trust Anakin, liked him even. He seemed truly sorry for the evil in his life. "Yes" she responded.

"Thankyou, Norrin. I need your help to find a solution, to come out of limbo, either way."

"Sure" said Norrin. Now this was quite the adventure! But it was more than that; it was a repentant wrongdoer's second chance. 'That is a powerful thing' she realised. " I've got a ship to take us away from here. And Artoo Deetoo, Luke's droid is just outside. We'll figure something out."

"Well, well, Artoo's still running is he?" Asked Anakin.

"You know _him_ too?" Norrin asked incredulously. She brushed it aside. "Well, let's get going."

"With pleasure!" smiled Anakin.


	6. Chapter 5 Helping

**Disclaimer: George Lucas and his companies and their shareholders own Star Wars. Any unrecognisable characters and scenarios are mine.**

**The Fall and Rise**

Chapter V

"Hello, Artoo." said Anakin.

The droid gave a startled squeal and fell over. "What's with him; Seen a ghost?" asked Norrin. The slapstick comedy of the incident made the two Jedi laugh. They hauled the droid and themselves into the ship. It was rather cramped with two people in the cockpit instead of the one for which it was designed. "So," said Norrin once she was comfortable "where's our first stop on our quest to get you back from limbo to fulfil your destiny and all that, then?"

"I don't know" replied Anakin truthfully. "But I have a good guess. The forest moon of Endor."

"The planet the Second Death Star was orbiting before it blew?"

"Exactly. It's the place where I died. It seems a good place to start." Anakin told her.

"Cool. Right, Artoo" she called to the droid "Set a course for Endor and jump us to lightspeed". Artoo beeped an affirmative.

"A ship this size does lightspeed?" asked Anakin.

"Oh yeah" said Norrin "You like ships then?"

"I know more about flying and fixing stuff than the average Corisanti engineer!" he said confidently "It's how I got my freedom. My 'owner' Watto let me go when I won a podrace."

"Wow!" said Norrin, awed.

They spent the rest of the trip discussing their shared passion for flying and fixing.

[45 minutes later]

Their ship emerged in front of a quite different planet. It was a small world, barely bigger than a moon, made out of different hues of green and brown. Norrin's scan did not pick up any technology or cities, but the place was teeming with life. Norrin took the ship down. Unfortunately, this landing was not as smooth as the last and the ship ploughed down three tall trees and became caught in their wreckage. "That" said Anakin "did not go well".

"Yeah, thanks" said Norrin, flippantly. "C'mon, let's find some help to clear up this mess."

"Right. Artoo, stay with the ship." Anakin replied.

The droid beeped indignantly at the familiar order and shut himself down. He knew from experience with the Skywalkers and their friends that this was going to take a while.

[A while later, in the middle of nowhere]

"You're lost" teased Anakin.

"Correction, _we_ are lost." Said Norrin "and we're bound to run into _someone._"

Anakin sighed.

[A while later, deeper into nowhere]

"Okay, we're lost" admitted Norrin.

"Hummm" agreed Anakin.

Suddenly, Norrin felt pressure at her back. An alien scream issued from behind them and a scurrying noise told them it was safe to turn around. When they did, they saw a small, furry head and a pair of liquid black eyes looking at them with a mixture of fear and curiosity. "Hey, little guy!" smiled Norrin as they approached. The little furry creature raised a spear at Anakin and then scurried back into the ferny undergrowth. "I think I'm scaring him" Anakin said.

After several minutes, they managed to persuade the creature that Anakin wasn't an evil spirit. Getting him to understand their request for help was slightly more tricky. Eventually he ran off and returned with a horde of his fellows. By six, their ship was free of the undergrowth. The small creatures persuaded them to stay the night at their settlement. When they reached it, they were greeted by the sight of almost two dozen tree houses with a network of rope bridge links between them. They ascended the ladder and were shown into a small, mossy room. Spreading her sleeping bag on the floor, Norrin took in her surroundings. "It's amazing that, with so little technology, those creatures were able to build all this" She mused.

"Yeah" agreed Anakin "G'night Norrin.

"Right. Night, Ani." She said, drifting off.

He looked sharply round. _Ani?_ No-one had called him that for a long time. It was almost like having friends again. It was a nice feeling.


	7. Chapter 6 Returning

**Disclaimer: George Lucas and his companies and their shareholders own Star Wars. Any unrecognisable characters and scenarios are mine.**

**The Fall and Rise**

Chapter VI

"Okay, where to now?" asked Norrin. They had left the settlement late that morning after a hearty oatmeal-like breakfast and a goodbye from the friendly creatures.

"First I'd like to work out why I'm in this situation" said Anakin.

"Well, I have a theory" said Norrin "remnants of the Empire are still around that the New Republic are still fighting. People like General Nemeses and all his lot. Maybe you need to help us fight them to fulfil the prophecy about you."

"Probably. By the way, _General Nemesis_?" asked Anakin incredulously.

"Yeah, he's a bit full of himself"

"I'd say so."

[That evening]

It was almost dark by the time they reached a place to rest. The clearing was a large circle in the middle of a thicket of coniferous trees that provided plenty of shelter. Still, there was something about it she didn't like. It had an aura of painful feelings surrounding it. When she looked closer, she saw that there was no undergrowth or animal life scurrying through it. Something bad had happened here.

It was only then that Norrin noticed something strange happening to her companion. He was staring strait ahead and his ghostly eyes were glazed over, clearly in a trance. "Anakin!" she hissed.

He suddenly turned around and took hold of her arm with the help of the Force. She followed him to the centre of the clearing. He then gripped her arms. She stared at her arms and saw a strange silvery light travelling along her veins and into Anakin. She felt herself becoming weaker. "Ani, stop!" she cried. Abruptly, Anakin seemed to come back to himself, using the Force to throw her to safety. She rolled behind a rock and peered over the top of it, terrified. The ground shook convulsively. She couldn't even see Anakin, cocooned in the same silver light that seemed to rise from the ground. She slid behind the rock, crouching there until it stopped. Then, as suddenly as it had begun, it stopped, to Norrin's relief. She decided come out from behind her rock shield.

Before, her, sprawled face-down on the floor, was Anakin. But now he was flesh and blood. "We did it" breathed Norrin "we brought him back!". He did look unnervingly still, though. Norrin plucked up the courage and gave the man a forceful poke. He groaned, she screamed and several birds took flight around them. "Oh, hello" said Anakin pulling himself to a sitting position "Sorry. I don't know what happened. I" he swallowed "I took your life force. That could have killed you!"

"'S Okay" she said, still shell-shocked "It didn't look like you knew what you were doing." They sat in companionable silence for several minutes. "So, your back then!"

"Yeah." He thought for a moment, drinking in the information from his senses. "Let's go."

"Back to Corisant?" asked Norrin.

"No, just one more stop before that" Anakin replied.

[Four hours later]

The next planet the ship came to was different again. It was filled with green but this time had large, beautiful expanses of water and plenty of cities with beautiful architecture and a lot of technology. "Naboo" stated Anakin "It was my wife, Padme's home. One of the most beautiful places in the universe."

They landed in a large, lush meadow surrounded by roaring waterfalls. "Tag, you're it!" challenged Norrin and the two spent almost half an hour playing the childhood game. For Anakin, it was euphoric, to feel his heart race, without being regulated by his life support system, to feel the warm sun on his face, to smell the grass and see the vibrant colours of the universe. To live.

When the friends eventually decided to leave after collapsing on the grass, laughing with delight, Anakin looked back at the meadow. "Don't worry, Padme. I've come back. I'm going to do good with this new life. I love you too."

He climbed back into the ship to begin his new life.


	8. Epilogue: Courisant

**Disclaimer: George Lucas and his companies and their shareholders own Star Wars. Any unrecognisable characters and scenarios are mine.**

**The Fall and Rise**

Epilogue

Norrin and Anakin came out of lightspeed in front of the metropolis of Courisant, grey by day, bright with multi-coloured neon lights by night. It felt good for both of them to return home. Once they had docked their ship at Landing Bay 4 and relieved Artoo of his duty they made their way through the hectically busy Corisanti streets and got a bite to eat at Norrin's favourite café. "You know this used to be a movie shop back when I was a teenager" he told her.

As they approached the Jedi Temple, Anakin's confidence faltered. How, after all he had done to these people, could he simply walk in there like one of them? Would they find a way to forgive him? Would Leia be as accepting as her brother?

Anakin felt his young friend's hand in his. She smiled up at him and said; "C'mon Ani, It's time". And it was.

**The End**

**P.S. Thankyou for reading my story and staying with Norrin and Anakin till the end! Hope you enjoyed it. **


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